This invention relates in general to the management of a physiological and/or psychological state of an individual and more particularly to the management of the physiological and/or psychological state of an individual through the use of biophilic images as a function of a sensed physiological parameter of an individual viewing the images.
The physical, emotional and mental well-being of an individual can contribute greatly to the quality of life of that individual. In our hyperactive, hyperkinetic world, stress results in numerous physical reactions, such as, headache, muscle tension, dizziness or sleeplessness, weight gain, chronic coughing, nervous ticks, stomach upset and shortness of breath. Job stress alone is estimated to cost American business $300,000,000,000 annually. Stress is the response of the body and/or mind to a demand placed upon it. Stress can be caused by major events in one""s life, such as, death of a loved one, marital breakup, personal injury or sickness, and job loss. Stress can also result from our day-to-day hectic style of living, where one attempts to excel simultaneously at being a super employee, a super parent, a super spouse, and a super citizen. Unless chronic stress is controlled, one puts oneself at risk for a host of serious problems, such as, heart disease, stroke, migraines, muscle and nerve disorders.
The typical path to obtain relief from stress is to visit one""s doctor. Stress conditions result in up to 70% of all doctor""s visits. Typically, drugs are prescribed to relieve stress. One stress reducing medication alone accounts for $6,000,000 per day in sales. Thus, alternative approaches to traditional medicine have become increasingly popular. Resort to Eastern religions, transcendental meditation, and biofeedback techniques have been proposed to empower the individual to reduce stress without the potential deleterious effects of powerful and expensive prescription drugs or invasive surgery.
It has been proposed to use images for the purpose of optimizing one""s physiological and psychological state. There are several reasons for this.
(1) It has been shown that one can measure a reliable physiological response for images that differ in valence and arousal. It has been demonstrated that images rated differently with respect to perceived activation and pleasantness elicited physiological responses of different magnitude. Thus, magnitude of the skin conductance response correlated with perceived arousal level produced by pictorial stimuli. At the same time heart rate acceleration during first 4 to 5 seconds of image presentation reflected xe2x80x9cvalencexe2x80x9d or degree of perceived pleasantness of an image. Other physiological parameters that reflect an individual""s physiological reactions to images have also been demonstrated. These results imply that, for an individual viewer, images can potentially be classified based on one""s physiological reactions in terms of emotional arousal.
(2) Imagery is known to be able to change a person""s state. Paintings, movies, pictures are constantly affecting our mood and performance level. Power of visualization and affective content determine effective use of imagery in therapeutic sessions. Experimental research has also shown that presentation of images of similar content may cause significant shifts in physiological reactions.
(3) Digital imaging technology provides an almost instant access to image databases through the internet. Moreover, the potentially unlimited degree of digital manipulation makes images very attractive means of interaction and communication. Images can be easily transformed to alter or enhance people""s preferences, i. e., for hue, saturation, depth, aesthetic feelings, etc. Image transformation by itself can provide biofeedback information to the user to facilitate learning how to control one""s physiological and emotional state, e. g., stress.
Following are several proposals to use images as a means of changing one""s state that have not proven to be entirely successful.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,729, issued Nov. 14, 1995, inventors Bittman et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,871, issued Sep. 6, 1994, inventors Bittman et al., disclose the use of measurements of electrophysiological quantities to control a presentation to a subject of a series of prestored audio-visual sequences.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,855,998, issued Dec. 24, 1974, inventor Hidalgo-Briceno discloses an entertainment device that includes sensing means connected to the user for sensing galvanic skin response and brain theta waves. According to a given measured state of a user the device provides a given type of predetermined audio-visual stimulation to the user for a timed interval to hold one in or move one toward a desired state. At the end of the interval, the user""s state is again measured and a further timed audio-visual response according to the measured state is presented to the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,994, issued Jan. 28, 1997, inventor Bro, discloses an automated and interactive positive motivation system that allows a health care professional to produce and send a series of motivational messages to a client to change or reinforce a specific behavioral pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,304,112, issued Apr. 19, 1994, inventors Mrklas et al., discloses an integrated stress reduction system which detects the stress level of a subject and displays a light pattern reflecting the relationship between the subject""s stress level and a target level. The system also provides relaxing visual, audio, tactile, environmental, and other effects to aid the subject in reducing one""s stress level to the target level.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,632,126, issued Dec. 30, 1986, inventor Aguilar, discloses a biofeedback technique which permits simultaneous, preferably redundant, visual and auditory presentation on a color TV of any intrinsically motivating stimuli together with continuous information pertaining to the physiological parameter to be controlled. As the subject changes a certain physiological parameter, the image and sound become clearer if the change occurs in the desired direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,168, issued Oct. 12, 1993, inventor Berg, discloses a system for allowing an individual to express one""s self in a creative manner by using biofeedback signals to direct imaging and audio devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,138, issued Oct. 14, 1997, inventor Zawalinski, discloses a multimedia computerized system for detecting emotional responses of human beings and changes thereof over time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,930, issued Sep. 10, 1991, inventors Marten, et al., discloses methods of analyzing physiological signals from a subject and analyzing them using pattern recognition techniques to determine a particular sleep state of the subject. Use of any associated feedbacks is not disclosed.
The following papers discuss various emotional responses and physiological responses of subjects to viewing images.
Affective judgement and psychophysiological response: dimensional covariation in the evaluation of pictorial stimuli; by: Greenwald, Cook and Lang; Journal of Pyschophysiology 3 (1989), pages 51-64.
Remembering Pictures: Pleasure and Arousal in Memory, by: Bradley, Greenwald, Petry and Lang; Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning Memory and Cognition; 1992, Vol. 18, No. 2, pages 379-390.
Looking at Pictures: Affective, facial, visceral, and behavioral reactions; by: Lang, Greenwald, Bradley, and Hamm, Psychophysiology, 30 (1993), pages 261-273.
Picture media and emotion: Effects of a sustained affective context; by: Bradley, Cuthbert, and Lang, Psychophysiology, 33 (1996), pages 62-670.
Emotional arousal and activation of the visual cortex: An fMRI analysis; by: Lang, Bradley, Fitzsimmons, Cuthbert, Scott, Bradley, Moulder, and Nangia; Psychophysiology, 25 (1998), pages 199-210.
The techniques disclosed in the above references have the following disadvantages.
1. Known biofeedback techniques require expensive equipment, a trained instructor, and individual training in order to realize the benefits from the techniques.
2. Known biofeedback techniques that use sounds, icons, or indicators that react to a user""s physical or mental state have been ineffective in inducing or encouraging a relaxed state in the user.
According to the present invention, there is provided a solution to the problems of the prior art.
According to a feature of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for managing the physiological and/or psychological state of an individual comprising a source of biophilic images; a device for sensing at least one physiological parameter of an individual; and a display, linked to said source and said device, for displaying biophilic images from said source as a function of the sensed physiological parameter in order to manage a physiological or psychological state of the individual.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved system that would incorporate biophilic images that respond to the user""s mental, physical and physiological state via biofeedback techniques. A simple example of this would be a time-lapse image of a flower budding. The user""s monitored physical and mental state would control the time-lapse sequence. As the user became relaxed the rate at which the xe2x80x9cbudding processxe2x80x9d progressed would accelerate. This would provide a non-abstract, non-distracting means to monitor one""s own physical and mental state while providing images that induce and encourage relaxation.
The invention has the following advantages.
1. A non-distracting means is provided to monitor one""s own mental and physical state.
2. Images are used that indicate the status of user""s mental and physical state and that also induce and encourage change of physiological and psychological state in a desired direction, e.g., relaxation.
3. A more effective biofeedback technique.
4. A more intuitive biofeedback technique.
5. A dual methodology of using relaxing biophilic image sequences which are controlled by biofeedback.